Tobias Sylvester
The Senate President, Ahmed Lawan has called for an end to the ongoing protest against the extrajudicial activities of the now-defunct Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) in the country.
Lawan made this call on Sunday after he visited President Muhammadu Buhari in company of the speaker of the house of representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, at the state house in Abuja.
KanyiDaily had reported that there is an ongoing #EndSARS protest across the country against the SARS tactical unit of the Nigerian Police Force over its brutality, illegal arrest, extortion, extra-judicial killings, among others.
Speaking with state house correspondents after the meeting, Lawan said the protests have yielded the desired results and that government needs time to address a few of the demands made by the protesting youths.
Very critical to mention at this point is that since the protests have taken place, and the issues have been accepted, the time has come for the protests to stop, because government needs to have sufficient time, a clement environment to implement the demands of the protesters.
“We also need to have our economy to continue to go on. When you try to stop everybody from engaging in their businesses, closing the roads to markets and other economic places, we distract the economy of the country, and that is not the best way to go.
“If the issues had not been accepted, then there would have been genuine reasons to continue with the demonstrations. But since the issues have been accepted, we should give government time to implement the issues.
“Therefore, I am taking this opportunity to appeal to our youth who are protesting, that the protests have already yielded the desired result.
“First of all, they said ‘end SARS’ — that was the beginning. SARS was ended, not by the IGP; SARS was ended by the president. President Muhammadu Buhari made a statement — a presidential statement, and that will be the first time that any president will say ‘end SARS’. And SARS has ended. The other issues followed.”
KanyiDaily recalls that the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed had calimed that the #EndSARS protests had been hijacked by hoodlums and people with ulterior agenda.
